KC-135s and other cargo planes are used by the military and other government agencies for aeromedical evacuation missions to remove injured and sick soldiers from the field, as well as transport cargo. Cargo aircrafts are also ubiquitous in the private sector.
Many activities may be conducted on board cargo planes, including medical procedures and preparation for critical missions.
However, the existing lighting systems of most cargo planes provide minimal task lighting. For example, the commonly deployed KC-135 used by the U.S. military has only 1 foot-candle of lighting at the floor and cover only a fraction of the cargo bay, making conducting on-board medical procedures, or even simple medical examinations, risky and sometimes impossible.
In order to overcome the inadequate lighting, flight and medical staff, and sometimes other passengers, hold spotlights to facilitate medical monitoring of patients. Sometimes emergency medical procedures would need to be completed during transport, in which case flight and medical staff would need to stably hold spotlights at precise angles, which was sometimes complicated by turbulent flights. In other cases, medical staff would wear helmet lights or similar structures around their head to provide light to examine a patient.
Other attempts to overcome the inadequate lighting in the cargo area of cargo aircrafts have also had problems. For example, one solution known in the art is to add dome lights to the interior of the cargo bay. However, these light do not provide the distribution or intensity required in many instances, especially in the case of on-board medical examinations. Current lighting standards require a color rendering index (CRI) of 80-85 for portable patient examination. A CRI of 100 is standard for operating rooms. Additional dome lights and other attempts to add lighting have not been successful in achieving the light intensity and color rendering index required.
A lighting system for cargo aircrafts must also be completely removable and require no modification to existing aircrafts. Some solutions known in the art require holes to be punched in existing aircraft structures. Modifying an aircraft structure in any way, however, risks compromising the structural integrity of the aircraft. There are also standardization requirements, particularly for government aircrafts, that mandate each aircraft be identical for maintenance and other reasons. Any modifications to the structure of an aircraft would therefore need to be identically done on all aircrafts.
Modification of the structure of a cargo aircraft also requires years of costly engineering studies in order to determine where structural modifications may be located, what size or type of modifications would not compromise the structural integrity of the aircraft, and whether such modifications may result in consequential deterioration of the aircraft. To perform and implement such a study also results in years of delay.
A lighting system for cargo aircrafts should also be portable. The government and many private companies have many cargo aircrafts. A portable unit may be transferred from one aircraft to another and used where needed. Fewer total lighting units means lower total costs for companies or agencies looking to invest in cargo aircraft lighting systems. Portable systems may also be removed from aircrafts for maintenance, upgrades or testing, meaning the aircraft is not grounded for the time it takes to complete maintenance, upgrades or testing. Permanently installed cargo aircraft lighting systems are more costly because they must be installed in every aircraft, and aircrafts must be left unused while maintenance is performed on the lighting system.
Existing attempts at lighting for cargo aircrafts provide only a single intensity of lighting. However, lighting needs throughout an aircraft may not be continuous, especially when a cargo plane is being used for an aeromedical mission. For example, when transporting medical patients, some patients may need rest, and dimmed lights, while others may need medical attention and full lighting. In other situations, when a cargo aircraft is transporting goods, it may not be necessary to having intense lighting throughout the cargo area, but rather only in specific areas when loading, unloading or securing cargo.
The lighting system must also be adapted to survive in the climates and conditions experienced by cargo aircrafts. For example, cargo aircrafts may sit on a runway overnight during an Alaskan winter and later sit on a runway along the equator. Compartment temperatures of cargo aircrafts can range from below freezing to over 100° F. Lighting systems must also be able to withstand turbulent travel. If used by government agencies and the military, a lighting system must also be explosion proof, resistant to vibration and approved by the Air Force for in-flight use.
It is desirable to have a portable lighting system that provides sufficient intensity light to facilitate in-flight medical examinations and procedures.
It is desirable to have a portable lighting system adapted to mount in an aircraft using existing structures for support and remove and transport easily.
It is further desirable to have a portable lighting system that may be zoned and controlled by both zone controls and a master control.
It is further desirable to have a portable lighting system that is stable during flights and may include optional mounting support members to increase the stability of the lighting system as needed.
It is further desirable to have a portable cargo plane lighting system easily adapted to install in a variety of planes.